Chargers Weekly: Chargers vs. Vikings Thursday Night Recap

On this episode of Chargers Weekly, Bolts radio play-by-play announcer Matt “Money” Smith, host Chris Hayre, and former Chargers safety Jahleel Addae recap the latest news involving LA and the entire NFL. Listen to the hosts recap the Bolts’ primetime Thursday Night Football win over the Minnesota Vikings. They discuss the impact of the return of offensive tackle Joe Alt, the development of tight end Oronde Gadsden II’s role on offense, and the leadership of linebacker Khalil Mack that allowed the Chargers to conquer the Vikings in their “Super Charger”-themed uniforms. They then look forward to next week, where a mini-bye will give the team time to focus on the Week 9 matchup vs the Tennessee Titans. Presented by Splitero.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Late fifteen to ten Touchdowpers.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
What's up, guys, Welcome into a brand new episode of
Chargers Weekly. We are presented by Splittero. Victory Friday Here
thirty seven to ten, the Chargers beat the Vikings, the
largest margin of victory ever at so far for the
Bolts take care of business against the Vikings. Jalil Lediahs
here as always joined by the voice of the Chargers

(00:31):
Matt Muddy Smith. Money. When you saw the navies in action,
those were different navies. Those were much different navies, and
the Chargers showed out at them.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Just yeah, you know, to set the scene last two
you know from Sunday Charger Power. They win that game
and people feel a lot better about how it looked.
Just the field was beautiful, the end zones, the corners,
all of the signage the way like the to the
Charger in game staff just tip of the cap and
they did not cut any corners. All of the presentation

(01:03):
on the video boards were all in sync, you know
last night, and the navies, the navies were beautiful, they
looked great, The field looked great. And on top of
all that, all of the production was like nineteen nineties
early two thousands Nintendo with the eight bit sound effects
and the way it looked in the corners. They just
did a really great job of not just saying yeah,

(01:24):
we're gonna throw on some uniforms that remind you of
the early two thousands and the midnight No, we're gonna
go all out, and so a big congratulations to them.
It looked great. They do it better than anybody else
in the NFL. And I'm stoked the Bolts, you know,
the football players could put an effort that got people
really excited about not just how they looked, but how
they played.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Yeah, Chris, it was a supercharging look.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
Man.

Speaker 5 (01:47):
It was growing up watching Junior Seau and LT and
Nate Tron means that's a throwback for you, right. That
brought me back to my childhood. That all blue with
the dark blue helmet.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
It was legit. It was a legit change the pace.

Speaker 5 (02:00):
I always thought that, you know, the Chargers had the
best uniforms in the NFL, But when they broke out
these this summer and gave us a sneak peak, but
to see them live in action under the lights on primetime,
I'm a little bit jealous.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
I didn't get to wear those.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
I told you body after the game, I said, there's
no way you guys were going to lose in these uniforms.
It would have been criminal to lose in the navies.
And hey, you know, Rodney Harrison gets seductive to the
Chargers Hall of Fame. They scored thirty seven points for
Rodney right in offensive performance where they didn't punt the
football and guys. As a leaping off point, I just

(02:35):
want to go to this one play that the Chargers
second play from scrimmage on offense. It's second and thirteen.
I believe from the fourteen what looks like a pick
six going the other way and an early Vikings lead
gets overturned, and from that moment on, Justin Herbert brushes
that pass off, drives all the way down the field

(02:57):
of Ronde Gatson. They've unlocked something with him, will get
into a Rondez. But Buddy, I feel like that play
really just changed the complexion of the entire game. It
could have been a very different game at the start.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Well, I think you can just go back to Sunday, right,
you know, the Chargers are down seven to nothing. The
Colts had just driven it the length of the field
and here they are Shia midfield on fourth and two
and they go for it and they think they get
a stuff and everybody's celebrating, and now the Chargers are
going to get at midfield, try to tie this game

(03:31):
up and sort of answer this Colts juggernaut with a
score of their own, and instead, instant replay overturns it.
The Colts come back out, they score another touchdown, and
you know, it just was this deflating moment. I think
for the Vikings. It was a great call by Brian Flores.
Nobody blitzes more from off the ball, you know he'll

(03:51):
bring you know, that was Metellus that came and man,
he timed it up perfectly. I thought it was an
off side. He timed it up so well. Hit Herbert
as he throws. Isaiah Rodgers, who's had an for the
ball season, comes up with it and it's a pick six,
and it's you know, when you think about what the
Chargers have been going through three of the last four weeks,
losing games, needing that crazy win in Miami to not
make it four in a row, and you're just kind

(04:13):
of wondering, how was that going to set the tone
for this thing?

Speaker 4 (04:15):
Now?

Speaker 1 (04:17):
And then you have it overturned, and I think coach
Harbaugh put it perfectly. You know, some guys had shrink
in that moment, be like, Okay, I gotta take care
of the ball, and what the heck was I thinking?
And I almost put it. Instead, Herbert just starts unleashing
man and just carved him up the rest of the
way down the field, perfect passing the ball, and I
posted a reel on my Instagram of him on that

(04:39):
second in goal after come on, he got stuffed at
first and goal from the eight man. It might have
been the best play of the game, and it'll go
in the box score as a two yard carry, as
a two yard scramble, but it was going from second
and goal from the ten to third and goal from
the twenty when Grenard came off that edge unblocked and
Herbert escaped him split two other defenders, made it third
and goal from the eight, and that led to that

(05:00):
touchdown pass to a Roddie. So I think it was
that play in conjunction with that whole first drive. Just
felt like that really set the tone.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, money, just before you chime in the next The
next play after that was a seventeen yard reception to
Keenan that set it off there. I think it was
thirteen and again.

Speaker 5 (05:18):
Yeah, it was just a tale of momentum when you
look at it, when you've seen the pick six first
of all, that that just took the energy out of
the stadium right when you talked about it, and you know,
mentioning the turnovers that Herbert has had in the last
couple of weeks, you've seen it go for a score
and you're just like.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Oh, man, here we go.

Speaker 5 (05:33):
And then the call gets overturned rightfully, So the ball
did touch the ground while he was trying to get
up and make a play on the ball. Excuse me,
get up to score and get a pick six. But
it was just the momentum switch. After that, you said
the seventeen yard completion, Chris, and that just changed the
whole momentum. And from that play on, the Chargers had
the game by the horns and it didn't look close

(05:54):
at all all evening long.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
Guys, the way the offense looks and you don't have
a more Hampton. Kimani steps up. It was tough sledding
at first for him, but he got better as the
game went on. One hundred and seventeen yards and a touchdown.
They have unlocked something with Ironde. Now. I mean we
saw him kind of come on after that fumble in
Miami and rebound in South Beach, and then what he

(06:18):
did on Sunday was remarkable and just now it's becoming
something for this offense. And the fact that I don't
think Quentin was targeted in this game. He saw Ladd
heat up. I think it's encouraging money that you can
really change up your game plan on a week to
week basis and you really don't know who's going to
get the football. But really, at the head of it,

(06:40):
you mentioned Justin like that two yard rush, like you said,
it's not going to show up at the box score,
but the way that he even with his legs too, money,
Like he really kind of unleashed his legs against the
Vikings as well.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, you know, I'll just kind of start with with
a Ronde, you know, as a jumping off point. I
was thinking about it when Greg Roman had his first
press conference and he said, can you imagine Justin Herbert
with a running game? And I've been saying it since
his rookie year. Can you imagine Justin Herbert with an
elite pass catching tight end just because we saw it.

(07:15):
We saw how important Hunter Henry was to what he
was doing. You know, Mike and Keenan got all the attention,
and rightfully so. But you could see when chips were down,
how he used Hunter in the red zone in third
down plays, just utilizing the middle of the field, having
that athletic tight end. Just that's a connection with Herbert.

(07:36):
There's something about that particular position. I think you just
look at how we elevated the game of Jared Cook,
of Gerald Effort, whomever it was. He made them better
than what they were coming in. And now you know,
credit to Joe Ortiz and Chad Alexander and that whole
staff whomever was scouting Arondez to find this incredibly. You know,

(07:57):
DJ put it best on the broadcast. He's like, it's
like looking in it's it's not an insult, it's a compliment.
It's like you just feel like you're looking at a
big slot. Yet he's two hundred and almost fifty pounds
now you know, with all the weight that he's put on,
and man, it's a weapon for him. And I'll tell
you you go back to the this game was a
little bit more. Yeah, Ronde's wiggling and getting open and stuff.
Still dug out a couple catches. But man, you go

(08:18):
back to that Colts game. He's got that catch on
the right sideline. He is fully extended snatching that ball
out of the air. He's got one that he catches
behind his back. He's got another one that he's getting
going to the ground like this. Dude's got some hands now. Man,
it's not just I'm running seams and I'm open, Come
hit me. Man, he has got some hands on him
to make some great plays. And I just cannot wait

(08:40):
to see how this whole season develops as he continues
to stat games and get better and better.

Speaker 5 (08:45):
Yeah, tight ends of quarterbacks best friend, we know that
to be true. But my biggest thing with him is
he was a former wide receiver and you can see
that in his route run. You can see that in
his ability to attack the leverage of a dB and
set him up knowing where he's going right. So I
just think him being the former wide receiver he is
at six five, two fifty five. We had him on
the podcast a few weeks ago, and I remember talking

(09:06):
when we were talking about the size of his hands.
How his hands was like triple size of mind. Right,
and he's just a mitche mass for defenses, and a
lot of times defense when you're defensive coordinators, they want
quarterbacks to throw the ball in lane one and laye
nine that's on the outside. Those are the toughest throws
for a quarterback to make that the furthest throws. But
when you have a tight end, a guy that can
stretch the field money you said it. Those making those
throws down the middle of the field, that's like taking

(09:27):
Kenny from a baby. For Justin right and their connection
and their their continuity is going to just continue to
grow with reps and experience. And tip your hat to
joy Tis once again. Finding a late round guy, a
guy who fits their system, not just going for someone
who you know, the mock draft boys say you should
go for because he ran a certain forty, but a
guy who fits their system, knowing what they like, knowing

(09:49):
what they need at that position. Going out and finding them,
you got to tip your hat to the front office
once again.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Right, a little fire to him too, got that that
fifteen yard pinal of the end zone. But I think
a way you kind of liked that you.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Know, yeah, I didn't know what that was about. I
was trying.

Speaker 5 (10:04):
I was trying to see if maybe the DV was
talking smack to him maybe prior to those plays.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
I didn't I didn't see what.

Speaker 5 (10:09):
Hey, you know what I'm all for, dude, take hey,
bring the Jews right. It's a it's a penalty, but
it doesn't harm us. You'd like to see that confidence
from the young book man. He's he's showing up and
he's showing out.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
It looked less good. It's it's just real quick. It's
it's him and Tyler Warren. You know, when you think
about and look, Harrold Fannin's had a really great start
to his career, and you know, he's had some issues
with quarterbacking and offense as a hole in Cleveland. I
think he's going to be great. But when you think
about all the tight ends that we got excited about
in this draft class, and look, I'll be honest, we

(10:41):
barely brought up a ronde against it like he was
because we were kind of thinking in that second third round,
like hey, is it Ferguson, is it fan In? Like
which one of these guys can you go nab? Because
it's certainly the way the the room was lined up
in terms of how much money was in there and
what was needed with you know, it just lined up
that they were going to draft a tight end. And

(11:02):
I think at this point, if you're Joe Ortiz, just
trade well, keep your first round picks, but trade everything
else and just get fifth round picks. Man, just get
a bunch of fifths Man Tarheb and cam Hart and
now Aronde Gadsden. Man, It's it's incredible what they're pulling out.
But yeah, I mean it's truly Tyler, Warren and Ronde
at this point in terms. I mean, the guy broke

(11:23):
a record from nineteen sixty one the most you know,
receiving yards by a rookie tight end.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
Since Ditka with Gates in the building.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Yeah, I mean it's you know, last week against their
Sunday against the Colts, it was Mark bavaro Is who
you're being mentioned with, and Antonio Gates and now you're
being mentioned with, you know, one of the five greatest
tight ends in the history of football. And Mike Ditka,
Like it's just it's crazy what he's putting together and

(11:52):
it's impressive. He's helping his quarterback out. He's making himself
available on some of those scramble runs and recognizing how
to how to adjust and how to same with and
I know you'll get to it. I don't want to
keep blabbering here, but same with Tray Harris Man. These kids,
the young guys, you know, recognizing Justin's in trouble. He's
rolling out to the riot. It's not there on the flat.
Let me help my quarterback out. I'm gonna break my

(12:13):
guy off here. I see him coming back to my
laugh Now, I'm gonna I'm gonna, you know, juke my
guy and get open and make myself available. And these
are rookies, you know, his fifth round pick, this a
second round pick, and they're out there making all these plays.

Speaker 4 (12:25):
Man.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, Either the fact that Gates was in the building
last night too, givid Rodney his jacket like he he
reminded me of Gates a little bit with the Navy on.
You know, it's like, all right, this is this feels
like it just feels right that that quarterback tight end combination.
Coach Harball mentioned I think on the lad touchdown that
they were doubling a Rondez on that. So just the

(12:46):
respect of a rookie. And yeah, you know, speaking speaking
a lad like a slow start to the year, we
have seen him come on in a big way the
last three weeks. And uh, this is the lab Ofcaukey
that I think everybody was envisioning week one on as
being kind of the dominant wide receiver one and he
was targeted ten times. Again, I found it. I found

(13:08):
it just interesting that Quintin wasn't targeted at all despite
being out there. And it just I think it goes
to show you that, uh, just the arsolo weapons money
that they have this year. If you look back exactly
a year ago middle of the year to what they
have around Justin right now from a pass catching perspective, it's.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
Night and day.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, and Julia, I'll let you take it. Like to me,
it just just reminiscent of what we saw Justin's rookie year, right.
Just doesn't matter who it is. If you're open, I'm
just gonna throw it to you. You know, whoever's open
is gonna get the ball. That's t Billy, if that's
Jalen gut And if that's Keenan Allen, if that's Mike Williams,
that's Hunter Henry just doesn't matter. And I think you
saw that in that game last night. They're blitzing. You
know that forty one point six percent blitz rate from

(13:53):
this the second most in the NFL. We know about
Brian Flores. He's gonna bring five and then he's gonna
bring six and it's gonna happen on Rundown's Gonnapp pass
and Herbert was just cutting him up. Let's find the
open man, Let's find him quick or I'm scrambling around
and whoever's gonna run the scramble drove, drill rip me,
I'll find him. And I think that's just essentially what
it was all night.

Speaker 5 (14:12):
Yeah, and you mentioned Lad Chris and so much of
last success comes out of the slot, and it was
so impressive that I think that touchdown was he was out,
he was on.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
The outside right, and we talked about it.

Speaker 5 (14:23):
Yeah, I think he reached that twenty miles almost twenty
one miles per hours, So he has the speed to take.

Speaker 3 (14:28):
The top off. Yeah, and a lot of people like
to like to bunch him in the slot. So he's
a quick guy. No, he's fast. He can play in
the outside.

Speaker 5 (14:34):
He can And that was again, so cool to the
former first round cornerback that he took the top off
and electrified the building with on that touchdown pass. But yeah, money,
you're you're on fire today, dude, just touching all the
points on. You know how Justin and has been blitzed
so many times and we know Flora's defense is gonna
blitz and you know the offensive line troubles and they've
probably seen that right in the film study was like,
we're going to bring the house and make these guys

(14:56):
pass off and make these guys overly communicating. And I
thought the offensive line did really good job of that.
Justin using that stiff arm, which has been a beast
of a attribute.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
For him this year.

Speaker 5 (15:05):
I mean, he's breaking ankles, he's lowering his shoulder to
get a first down, he's extending the ball over the
first down marker.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
He really played like the quarterback we know Justin can be.
And his receivers.

Speaker 5 (15:16):
We talked about it, right, We talked about maybe maybe
the beginning of this year, we said this is group
minus the running backs. And now if you had the
running backs, that's a different story. This is the most
weapons that Justin Herbert has had in his whole career
and there's only one ball, right and QJ didn't get targeted,
but there's only one ball and at the end of
the day, a win matters, and that's what the Chargers

(15:37):
came out with.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
I'm jumping real quick, Chris, because I was. I had
it on my board yesterday, so I wanted to pull
the note up. You mentioned out wide and this came
from our friends at NFL Pro when I was prepping
for the game. So I'm not off the camera. I
didn't realize that, but I'm trying to read it because
it's a very small fund it's on my board. So
lad last year slot alignment sixty five percent of his snaps.

(16:01):
This season he is out wide thirty four percent, So
that's a bump of about five percent. And on top
of that more efficient wide eleven to fourteen targets. This
is before yesterday, one hundred and ninety four plus forty
two yards over expected in the slot minus forty four
receiving yards over expected. So and I think a big

(16:24):
part of that too, Jalil, when I went and watched
the game before Chris, the Eagle game. Remember this is
a team that was lost lost in the passing game. Right,
you heard a AJ brownsman belly aching all season. Jalen
Hurts isn't getting his guys the ball. And what did
you see in that game? You saw Aj and DeVante
out wide and they were roasting those dudes. And so

(16:47):
I think g Row probably saw and watched that. And yeah,
Couda's you know, I think at Kuda was the third
pick in the draft. If I remember right that Herbert
went six. I believe he was right.

Speaker 4 (16:58):
Wasn't he the third pick of that so the same
draft class?

Speaker 1 (17:02):
Yeah, you know, so that was a little Georgia versus
Ohio State, little Elmo Roasta, and I mean Lad busted
him up right off. He just got a shake on
his release and it was over. And as soon as
he saw that, Herbert saw that, bang see you later, man,
and Larry.

Speaker 4 (17:17):
Bird stopped.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
And then Ashake.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Exactly exactly finished it with the Joe Walt Fortnight dance,
Yes exactly, but he.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
Just to piggyback off the kind of the blitz rate
in the Vikings and Floras and Herbert another staff from
NFL pro uh justin Herbert finished thirteen or fifteen for
a Bucks sixty two and two touchdowns and a pick
against the Vikings Blitz, his fourth most yards against the
Blitz in his career. The last time Herbert faced the
Vikings thirty two of thirty eight for three oh one

(17:51):
and three touchdowns against the Blitz. So I go back
to that. I remember seeing some of the stats and
key I think Keenan had like eighteen catches that game
or something ridiculous. And that was unfortunately game that might
got hurt. But you remember how desperate they needed that
win in Minnesota a few years ago, and just how
good Justin was against the Blitz and before he to

(18:14):
the defense. Just really touch on the running game a
little bit, because I thought Jared Patterson gave some valuable
carries in the first quarter, got three or four yards
of pop, just kept moving in a little bit. But Keimani,
I was just so impressed with. We saw him in
preseason Julio and we you know, I remember, I think
it was the New Orleans game where it was like, man,

(18:34):
Kimani looks good, and he looked good in the Hall
of Fame game too. Just to get the opportunity to
get out there. The last thing we expected was to
have naj and Omarian both down in Week eight and
money to see what Kimani was able to accomplish in
Miami and to keep it rolling. It was a tough
game for everybody against the Colts, but four days later

(18:57):
to be able to really contribute in the running game,
to compliment Justin, I thought he was awesome.

Speaker 4 (19:04):
Yeah. Look, they couldn't run the ball against the Colts.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
They were down twenty four to three, you know, so
it just became a we're gonna huck this thing around
and see if we can make up some ground. But
I think, look, shame on all of us, me included,
because here we are twenty minutes into the pod.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
Yeah, seventy six, let's talk about seventy six.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yeah, like we guess what you know, why lads out
there and why Justin scrambling around and why Rondez Gadsten
is catching all of his targets with it. Yeah, you
want to talk about a force multiplier? You Like, you
cannot have a more drastic difference in what we saw
out there last night than what we'd seen after Joe

(19:44):
Walt left the game against New York.

Speaker 4 (19:46):
Like, it's just it's if.

Speaker 1 (19:49):
You have if you if you were still holding on
man if you were still hanging on to that, we
should have taken Malik Neighbors thread. Just that's all you needed.
It's right there, man, everything he is dusting dudes on
those runs. I mean that that touchdown run or maybe
it wasn't a touchdown was till it was obviously was

(20:09):
till the life, but it was in the red zone
I think. And man, he lifted and moved that dude
five yards and it just it changes everything. They're running
twenty two. Tucker, Fiscus and Ronde are both over there
with Bobby Hart and you've just got Alt on Alt
Island like, yeah, whatever, man, follow me, let's go have
some fun. And it was such a different deal, Julil, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (20:33):
It was. And he made the whole offensive line better,
like just the communication, the confidence with Herbert knowing that
his blind size protected, Herbert looked just a lot more
comfortable in the pocket, right, and he was able to
go through his reach. He was able to go through
his progression. And then we talked about Keimani Vadell. Right, Hey,
we were I was on the podcast maybe three weeks
ago saying are we going to give the ball twenty
five times a combine? So shame on me, Chris, right,

(20:54):
because two two hundred yard games. This is somebody that
you got to respect. The guy that waited his turn
was behind two big time backs in front of him
who probably thought he would never see the day a light, right,
But it shows his professionalism, It shows the craft he's
been working on. His pass protection was amazing, his blocking
downfield was amazing, and then he ran behind his pads
And that's what I really liked about him and Patterson.

(21:15):
Very low center gravity guys. I would love to see
what the yackle yards were because after contact, they were driving,
drive and driving, and the marks of a good running
back is falling forward. But yeah, money Joe Alt was
the difference maker. The offense looked very, very complete, assertive
aggressive with aught back in the game. I seen him
get rolled up on that same angle that was taped up,

(21:37):
and that looked nasty.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
He popped right back up.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
Yeah, he popped right back up.

Speaker 5 (21:41):
And that just exemplifies the toughness that he brings, and
he brings that to the whole offensive line of the
offense in general.

Speaker 4 (21:46):
Yeah, most of the offensive line.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
Yeah, if that's what he looks like in his first
game back, then I can only imagine what next week
against Tennessee and thereafter is gonna look like. Man to
make such an indelible impact on the game, you can't
say enough. And when you flip into defense, I think
another guy in that same vein.

Speaker 4 (22:06):
Real quick, Chris, I just want to point.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
I want to say this real quick because you mentioned
it Jalil, and I think it. It was the theme
the violence, you know, of the post game and fighting
through stuff. I just want to acknowledge Bobby Hart. You know,
Bobby took a shot early in that game too, his
knee got kind of buckled and it was right below
us where he spent the whole defensive series kind of
trying to walk something out and with no Jamari Sawyer

(22:31):
with Trey then wanting to keep him on ice, you know,
tip of the cap to Bobby. And I ain't gonna
lie since we're all shaming ourselves when they sign him.
I'm like, really, we're doing, Bobby Art, this is what
we're doing. And he's been good man. Bobby's been like
what do we always say, just don't be a net negative?
Can you be a net neutral on the offensive line?

(22:52):
And I think he's been above the line. Of net neutral.
You know, they're giving him a lot of help, and
that's what the return of ault does. But he had
a play where he got that knee knocked inside and
you could see him limping around. And the very next
play was the one where Justin was flushed and he
got tagged. I don't know if you remember it was
right sideline. It should have been a flag. I mean,
he got absolutely drilled, and freaking Bobby hart Man forgot

(23:15):
about his knee. He gets into a full sprint over
onto that Viking sideline and starts shoving some dudes and
getting to his quarterback. So along with all playing through it,
Man shout out to Bobby hart for certainly it looked
like he was dealing with something and knew how important
he was to that game and stayed in there.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
Yeah, you know, their battle tested. Coach Harbough mentioned across
the offensive line, the last thing you want is to
go through like nine ten offensive linemen. But the fact
that Deculus has been in it and Bobby hart has
been in it now for a little bit during a
tough time, I think it leads you to believe that
maybe when it does get tough again, because it inevitably will.
So you know, we saw Mackay leave the game. We'll

(23:55):
learn more about what happened with him by the foster
Serell came in and did a nice job too. Had
to have guys that you're not expecting to do much
as a starter to then come in and start when
it gets tough in week fifteen, sixteen seventeen, you know
who you can count on. So yeah, good, good on you.

(24:16):
Money for mention to Bobby Hart. Listen, he hadn't started
a games Is twenty twenty one, hadn't been in games
Is twenty twenty two, so I think it was natural
for every to be like, Okay, is this gonna work out?
But maybe maybe the time off maybe it helps.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
You know, time off.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
There definitely some time off, and I think there's a
reason why he hadn't started a game since twenty twenty one.
You know, look, he had had a rough go, but again,
Nick Hardwick, Mike Devlin, Greg Roman, Jim Harbaugh, credit them man,
Joe alt Zion, all these dudes bos that are helping
him out was well, and most importantly, Tucker Fisk, you

(24:53):
know who pretty much was was riding in his hip
pocket the whole time, and Tucker had a great game,
I mean great game, played fantastic football. So I know
we got to get to the defense. I don't want
to leave them out because that was really the most
important part of this whole thing.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
Without that, we.

Speaker 5 (25:10):
Got to get you a Tucker Fish jersey money next episode,
a Tucker Fish, a.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
Royal, A royal Tucker Fish.

Speaker 4 (25:18):
Look.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Man, he he doesn't get any credit because although he
was open on that one play, man, it should have
been a quick throw to Tucker just held on to
it a little too long. I was like, oh, Tucker
Fish touchdown, and unfortunately Herb didn't see him before the
in the pocket collapsed right away. It was like a
six man blitz and it just didn't happen. But he's
just you know what I think with with Tucker when

(25:40):
you're what like, it was funny on that one Kamani
run on the second and eleven where he got to
the one yard line and it was supposed to be
a counter and Tucker executed it so perfectly. Man, you know,
was in motion, he whips seals this guy and he
looks back and he's like, where'd he go? And to
Comani's credit, he's like whatever, dude, I gonna an art
decided to crash, So I'm just gonna take this nine

(26:01):
yards over here.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
Right.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
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(26:26):
splittero dot com. Slash chargers. Hey, so the defense was
at a crossroad Sunday. I mean it really was. I
mean the cold score on six of their first seven
possessions did not look like the jesse mentor defense that
we've seen for the first season and a half in
the Hardball administration. Right, So, a short week talking to

(26:49):
Touley and a Dafe in the locker room, just Khalil
Mack in his leadership and just kind of him, I guess,
in a lack of a better term, just kind of
down the wall like this is unacceptable. It's time to
get back to playing football the way we know how
and man they got after Carson Wentz to started with that,
and I think just the uptick in Max snaps and

(27:12):
just I think getting that bad taste out of your mouth,
Like Carson Wentz didn't have a chance. And you know
they you got guys like Justin Jefferson and Jordan Edison
on the outside. They didn't give Carson a chance to
even have a play develop. Right, we were talking about
before the podcast, guys like felt bad for Carson Wentz
in the second half. He was getting destroyed in that game.

Speaker 5 (27:34):
You little it destroyed And and that's the telle of
the story. That's the story of the game. The trenches
on the offensive side and the defensive side just dominated
created a new line of scrimmages played in their backfield.
Carson Wentzon have time that he had no time to
let plays develop. I mean he was he was he
was looking at the rush. She wasn't even looking at
the routes going downfield. And rightfully so, every time it

(27:56):
came to a commercial break or they showed a replay,
he's Grimerson holding his shoulder. He's just contemplating life out there.
And the Chargers did a really good job of imposing
their will on him physically often early and often. And
the thing about it that was so impressive to me,
Durren James wasn't in that game, right, he was out
early on with an ankle.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
He's a heartbeat of that team.

Speaker 5 (28:15):
But just like Joe aut coming back having cleared back
the back for the second week, playing more snaps, they
have to slide the protection to him. So guys get
their one on ones and then you start to have
your one on one matchups, and when you have the
one to one matchups, then you can bring pressure in
these guys. Listen, the defense showed up and they looked
like the defense that we've known, like you said, Chris
for the last year and a half.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yeah, I think you know just again force multiplier, right,
Khalil Mack. You think about some of those run stops.
I mean, I just got to I've had I got
so many windows open. That's why I keep looking the
other way. So, but you're talking about eleven carries for
thirty four yards, you know, I mean, and how about
Jordan Mason four carries for three yards and two of
those were Xavier Scott in garbage time. So let's take

(28:57):
the two away for sixteen and you're essentially talking about
nine carries for eighteen yards in this game. That's that's
what they did to Aaron Jones say, look for people
that are saying, wow, you know you got Darra saw
out and Brian O'Neil are out.

Speaker 4 (29:09):
Okay, who you talking to?

Speaker 1 (29:11):
Talking to the Chargers who've been playing with Bobby Hart
and Austin Deculus and all of the fans that have
been upset have been saying, you know, what a disaster
it is, And well, yeah, that's what you're supposed to do.
That's what it's supposed to look like. When you got
Walter Rousse and Blake Brundle Brandell out there at tackle
and you got you know, Michael Jurgens in its center, like,

(29:31):
that's what it should look like. You should be able
to dominate. And I think for you know, for for Khalil,
you heard what the tone was all week long, man,
and I think it's again, it's like, all right, this
guy's in his whatever it is, twelfth season, he's got
a freaking dislocated elbow, and he said, you're gonna have

(29:53):
to drag my freaking body off the field. It's time
we get right this week, and if you don't think
everybody on that defense is going to get in line
behind that, and and then on top of that, it's
not just saying it, it's doing it right. I mean,
you saw how he set the edge, you know, the
way he's just and and just opened up those run
fits for Denzel. That one hit he made when he
bounced off the dude he came back to make the tackle.

(30:14):
I mean it could have been a loss of like
three or four, but it was just such it was
so funny.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
Man.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
He just sets the edge and here comes Paraman flying
in like he always does, and it's just like wow,
you know, and just bodies everywhere. I was like, there
we go, Like that's what it's supposed to look like,
you know, and I'm just cracking up up there. I'm like,
I'm laughing again on defense.

Speaker 4 (30:33):
This is fun.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (30:35):
DP having been DP back is just you see the difference, right,
you see the flow of down. He'll play from the
from the linebacker position, and that's what he does. I mean,
I'm gonna call DP after this and tell him he's
to catch that pick.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
He's out there.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
Looking at that right looking like it.

Speaker 5 (30:51):
I Mean, that's my guy, but he brings such a
different edge, such a different personality to the defense. And
when he's out, you can see it. He's back and
he allows day On to play freely. Right, he's playing downhill,
He's knocking guys off in the backfield. It just looked
like a really, really good, aggressive style defensive game that
the Chargers played.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
You know, having all three of those guys to include
Troy died, just to have that trio at linebacker healthy
is a welcome sight. How About how about Tully making
a tackle with like that arm whipped? You remember that.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
It was the stretch played going to the right and
Tully set the edge and the guy cut back and
he turned back with his left hand.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
I was like, be.

Speaker 5 (31:31):
Careful with your elbow, and he turned back with his
left hand and like smacked him in the head and
just stopped him like.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
In his tracks. I'm surprised.

Speaker 5 (31:41):
I'm not surprised you've seen it, but I thought I
was one of the only ones who caught that.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
I was like, Wow, that's a heck of.

Speaker 4 (31:45):
A play, Tully.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
Sorry, Chris Tully another six pressures right, and coming into
that game, he was eighteen percent pressure rate, career high.
What do you have in this one? His pressure rate
in this game was way higher than that. Okay, so
there he goes pressu rate twenty seven point three percent
pressure rate. So you're talking about twenty two pass rushes

(32:10):
and on a quarter of those, basically on six of
those he's getting a pressure, you know, six of his
twenty seven. And you just go down the line, Khalil
Mack twenty eight point six percent pressure rate. Where's oh way,
what did o Way have? Oh wait? Twenty percent pressure rate?
Those are just gargantuan to put that in perspective. This
year for the season, tu les at seventeen point six

(32:31):
and that's a career high and it's top ten in
the NFL. So like, that's that's what we're talking about,
you know, going twenty seven point three percent, and what
they were able to do with pressures and make and look,
Carson Wentz he just he wasn't seeing it.

Speaker 4 (32:45):
Man.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
He was holding out of the ball forever and it
just he didn't He looked like, get me, he looked.

Speaker 2 (32:49):
Like he was in the eleventh round with Canelo in
the second half. Like that's I felt bad for.

Speaker 5 (32:55):
Him or Mike Tyson in the nineties he was not
trying to be out there at all. And that's listen,
the Chargers did what they had to do right, and
that's it's it's a it's a it's the NFL.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
And you impose your will on your opponent.

Speaker 5 (33:08):
And they smelt blood early and they didn't let their
foot off the gas and you got to win the
games that you're supposed to win, and they went up
there and did in a really good fashion.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
And then like that's the thing like for the people
that are saying, oh well, Vikings, no tap, Like this
is a team that's been competitive, you know coming in,
This is this is a defense that I'm trying to
I want to pull it up and I'm doing this
far too much and making people wait while I'm trying
to get this thing going. But just like quickly to
point out and like when I was saying it, I

(33:38):
was like, man, why are they making us look so easy?
The third downs? They were four for four on that
opening drive like for the game. So like coming in,
the Vikings are the Vikings defense is second against third downs,
only allowed thirty percent of third downs to be converted.
Fourth in the red zone forty seven percent. Coming in,

(33:59):
Chargers first in red zone TD percentage. Bang Dang Dang
Dang got them all, all of them except for the
ones you know where they had the penalties. But are
the Yeah, No, I think they got all. I think
I believe they had every Yeah, every single.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
Red zone trips was on point.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
And that's the number four red zone D, the number
two third down D and on third down we know,
like I said, I think they I don't know if
you have that box up because I went to the
Vikings page. But look, this is a team, like we said,
they could have beat the Eagles if Hawkinson holds onto
that ball. They beat the Browns, they lose to the
Steelers late twenty four to twenty one. They hammered the
Bengals forty eight to ten. Uh, they beat the Bears late. Like,

(34:37):
this is not a team that's getting blown out week
in and week out. It's one of the top defenses
across the board. I mean, top ten in points allowed,
eight in yards allowed, seventh against the pass, eighth against
uh scrimmage yards. You know, they got what sixteen sacks
on the season, eight forced fumbles. Right, that's a good unit.

(34:59):
That g and Herbert and that whole offense carved up
last night.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
Made him look extraordinary.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Guys, two players. I want to mention on defense, just
to kind of hark you back to our point about
Joe and some of his picks. Like, you know, we
heard so much about Justin a boyd be this offseason
and the weight that he's put on and parasacks yesterday.
He's played a bunch and has played really well. And
you mentioned Darwin going out Jalil a big spot. When
you trade a Lowhi Gilman, you do r J. Mickens

(35:30):
was going to get some run. I think Tony left
this game for a little bit with a hamstring. But
to see Mickens get make a big play late in
the game as a safety, what did you see from
number twenty seven?

Speaker 5 (35:43):
Just playing fast, playing fast? Looks like the game is
slowing down for him. I thought they would give him well,
we knew that wasn't a funer recovery for a touchdown,
but I love his effort. But just seeing him play fast.
We liked him throughout preseason. Really good tackler. He's communicating
back there. I'm watching the game. I'm watching. I'm watching
different from a fan. I'm watching, like, Hey, who's communicating
what are they saying?

Speaker 3 (36:03):
What are they checking?

Speaker 5 (36:04):
And he did a really good job back there, and
then to get his hands on the ball in a
primetime game and force a turnover, A really really good
job for the rookie who they have high hopes on.
Who me you Chris Money we talked about and raved
about in the preseason, and it's it's awesome to see
his hard work be exemplified and displayed on national TV.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
Yeah, I'll just quickly Chris go to a boy bee.
He watched the game on Sunday, and that was a
rough go, you know, And I'm sure he'd tell you
the same thing as a rough go for Justin in
that one. For whatever reason, it just wasn't lining up
for him. A lot of those runs were kind of
going right past him and stuff. And so to me,
I bring that up because I think you want to
talk about how the defense felt about that performance, how

(36:49):
they wanted to get rid of that thing and make
sure that's not who they are, that's not what we do.
And just to see him come out and perform, I mean,
you're talking about a one hundred and eighty degrees difference
like there could not you watch a boyg Bee film
from Sunday and you watch a BOYG B film from
Thursday and they're like, that's not the same guy. There's

(37:10):
no there's no way. We were talking about it before
the game and I was having a conversation with someone
and they brought up Khalil Mack. They were like, man, Khalil,
I just I don't think I've ever saw it. I
don't think he's okay. I don't I wonder what's going on?
Is he coming back too soon? And we talked about
how you can't read the numbers on the on the
jersey and I was like, I don't. I don't remember that.

(37:33):
I don't remember watching that. I felt like Khaleili barely played,
but what I saw he was okay. And I was like,
I will say, though, you know ninety two was and
he's like, oh wait a minute, it was ninety two,
not fifty two.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
And so you mentioned you had some you had some
number issues on Sunday, right, I.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
Need I need new numbers. If you're going to keep
those things next year, you better put a thicker navy
border around those white numbers, because white on yellow is
no Winno Blancouyema Rio Bueno so but but I but again,
I hope I'm not sounding too negative, but because to
me it's positive. It's like, hey, man, you had your
worst game of the year and then you bounce back

(38:11):
and you get two sacks in this game, and you're
in the backfield constantly and you're helping, you know, crush
those run lanes. So kudos to a boy bee for
bouncing back in a big way. I was talking to
Lorenzo Neil last night and he was talking about film
sessions and I can't remember who this guy's name was,
Coach Straw. I think he said it was who it was.
He's like, man, I want to choke him out some

(38:32):
of those times. Man, he just look at me and
he'd be like, what are you doing here? You want
to apologize to LT because I would have been a touchdown.
You don't miss that. But I goes, you know a
boy be must have had. He goes watching justin out there.
He goes, I bet a boy be had one of
them sessions, man, where he was like, all right, I
can't choke you'll Mike Elston, but I'll show you. I'm
gonna get out there and I'm gonna make sure I
make it. You know, I'm gonna make it right on
the field so I don't have to go through this again.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
You know that's really just credit.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
Go ahead, you got it.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
I was just gonna say. We talked adjusted in the
locker room Sunday and to his credit, man, you know
you face the music. Uh, he said, bad performance all around.
We flush it, We move on. We got four more days.
And I think, kind of to a man it there
was nothing better than to play. I think on a
Thursday night. When you play like that on a Sunday, right,
and now you have a mini buy, you have the

(39:20):
Tennessee Titans coming up. Guys who are nicked up or
banged up have an extra few days to get ready
for that game. But that's that's funny, Jalil.

Speaker 4 (39:31):
I want to give me your film story. Give it
to me.

Speaker 5 (39:36):
Oh no, I've had I've had some of those. But
it's just more so like as the player, you you
just kind of.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
Shit strenk in your chest.

Speaker 5 (39:46):
You know those players are coming up that you you
watched over and over the night the night after the game,
or on the play home they're playing right home, and
you said it, Chris is just you can't wait to
get that taste out of your mouth, whether it's going
off to practice and having a good practice and having
good recks, because truly, as a player, your confidence comes
from practice, comes from preparation. And I'm pretty sure that
a boy we had a really good practice in the

(40:06):
films excuse me a week in the film room, and
he went out there on the grass and he did
the same thing and it showed up for him on Sunday.
But those film sessions are real, they're humbling. But it's
a competitive, competitive business, and you got to know that
the constructive criticism is coming good or bad, and you
got to take it with the grain of salt, and
you got to go out there and compete.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
You can't soak too longer somebody else will be wearing
your jersey.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
Yeah, but buddy, you know we've seen we've seen the
flashes from Justin throughout the year, and the fact that
we didn't see him at all last year, Like I
almost I almost feel like this is his rookie year
in a sense, right, Like you know, it's like you're developing,
you put on all this weight, and you know, you
see the flashes and I think you're going to have
some of that mixed bagh when you're kind of putting

(40:50):
NFL game tape together.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Yeah, look, I think you can make a case that
it's you know, I mean, look, Houston was bad, but
Houston was just bad the playoff game. On one side
of the ball. The offense just you know, the defense
played great in the first half, Like they're creating turnovers,
they're setting their offense up, They've got you know, CJ.
Stroud pinned deep and this fluke play happens, and they've

(41:13):
been on the field the entire freaking half and it
just kind of unraveled on them. But like, I just
think from you know, the Colts game could have been
one of the low points since Coach has been since
Coach has been here now for a year plus, and
I think last night was, if not the high, I
think it might have been the best game they've played.
I really believe that, Like, just in terms of executing

(41:38):
a game plan and taking advantage of what's put in
front of you. You can think about like forty to
three against New England and all that stuff last year,
But I just to me, the way how efficient they
were just seemed like every play that was supposed to
be made was made. Every coverage that was supposed to
be there was there. Like set in the edge was there,
plug and run, you know, the runfits were there. Like

(42:00):
everything was just was right, you know, and and when
you look at it, it's like, yeah, I mean there
was a point in the game when the Chargers had
twenty first downs and the Vikings had run twenty four plays.
There was that that moment existed in this game. That

(42:21):
is like how good the offense and defense were connected
together in this one because you look at at you know,
because of how it just sort of ended and the
way they were, you know, when they were up all
those twenty one points, they just kind of started handing
it off and just let's you know, we can just
punt and you know, hand this ball off run These
three minutes punt were fine, just get out of here.

(42:41):
Nobody else gets hurt. But so it's a little bit
out of whack. But you're talking about forty minutes to
twenty minutes of possession, Like the leading tackler.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Was saint juiced with three tackles, right, because it's a
lot of it's just they didn't run a lot of plays.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
Yeah, I mean, that's like it was in every in
every phase. I mean you're talking about six yards per
play to three and a half. I mean the Vikings
had one more drive than the Chargers ten to nine,
and it's four hundred and nineteen to one hundred and
sixty four yards, and forty of those were on that
last drive. Like it's it was crazy, how how dominant

(43:20):
and complete a performance they put together. And right when
you got your mini buy, it's gonna be a nice
ten days. And then you're coming back against Tennessee. You know,
you get all this time off before you hit the road,
and you're gonna take on a Titans team that you
know is undernew leadership, and Mike McCoy has a first
number one overall pick that's searching for it. And so

(43:42):
I think it's could not have lined up better. You know,
flush that indie game in four days, and now we
got ten days to get healthy and to feel good
about this next little chunk of games, you know, with
with Tennessee Steelers and how that whole thing. And by
the way, this is our first time of back to

(44:03):
back home games, Like that's how crazy this schedule has
been the first one was in Brazil. Then you're in Vegas,
then you're home to Denver, then you're in Miami or
what Yeah, then you're home to the or then you're
in New York, then you're home, then you're back in
you know, to wash it like it was just a mess.
So kind of get this nice chunk of time to
get healthy, get your mind right, and prep for this

(44:26):
push as you make your way to the buy in
week twelve.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Julia, hold that thought. Let's take a quick break and
then come back, and I want to get your thoughts
on this next month. None that we're kind of the
halfway point of the season, head to San Francisco and
experience the Super Bowl with on Location, the official hospitality
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(44:52):
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(45:13):
three seven three five zero six to two to secure
your ticket package today, the money you alluded to it
the Titans next week, a mini buy, and I just
I look at the next four or five games, Juli.
You have the Titans, then you come home for Sunday
Night Football against the Steelers. Then you go back east

(45:33):
and take on the Jags. You know, we talk about
wildcard implications, especially with the Steelers and the Jags. Then
you have a buy and come back for the Raiders.
So you're five to three at this point critical month
before that buye uh, and you have your mini buy.
So you got Tennessee Pittsburgh, Jags, Raiders. You gotta win
at least three of those.

Speaker 5 (45:54):
Yeah, you have to win at least through those, Chris,
when you look at those and that's those games, that's
what it looks like it should be, if not for
at least three, Pittsburgh being the toughest opponent that they
will fail over this face over this next month. But
that with that being said, you know, like I know,
you can't go out there and say, you know what,
this team doesn't look good or they haven't won a

(46:15):
game whatever, interim head coach and they have a rookie quarterback.
If we just played the Dolphins and had a barn
burner down there, right, So, and they're not doing too well.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
So every game in the NFL is very vital, is
very pivotable.

Speaker 5 (46:27):
You have to go out there and prepare mentally, physically
like it's the super Bowl. And it's very cliche. Everyone
says the next game is the most important game because
it's the next game, but it is right. You can't
look down the road, you can't look past Tennessee and look, hey,
we got Aaron Rodgers and the boys coming in town.
You got to go to Tennessee and you got to
take care business, just like they did last night against Minnesota, right,

(46:48):
took care of business. A team that they are better than,
they show that they were better than. And they need
to do that over this course of the next month
with these opponents that they're going to be facing.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
But they got to be feeling good going into a minute.

Speaker 5 (47:00):
By you get to prepare extra, you get to get
your body back, you get to get like a little
mental break, you know.

Speaker 3 (47:05):
From the from the monotonous of you know, the season.

Speaker 5 (47:08):
So I think they're in a really really good position
and if they continue to do what they do as
we know, they can we'll look up in a month
and we'll be happy with the results.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
I think it's just, you know, it would have been
nice to have a three in one month. I think
if Joe Walt doesn't get hurt, they knock off the
Giants and it's a three and one month maybe and
you feel pretty good about where you're at. You know,
your three and one second quarter, I should say, you know,
or it's a four to oh first and maybe a
two and two, you know, sort of, I don't know what.

Speaker 4 (47:37):
The hell I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
I take five and with everything that's happened, though, you
take five and three.

Speaker 1 (47:43):
Right now, right, I guess that's what I'm saying. Like
when you think about the injuries and losing Slater before
the season, and then losing Alt in week four, losing
Khalil Mack in week two, you know, losing Amari and
Hampton in week five, and like, and here you are
five and three, and if you just I believe, if
you just replicate this first half of five and three,

(48:05):
you're ten and six. So maybe you're eleven and six
or maybe you're ten and seven, and you punch your
ticket to the tournament. And to me, like when I
look at it and I say, Okay, where can we
find five more wins in here? I feel like you can.
I feel comfortable saying that. And it's and it's very
similar to the Dodgers, right you think about can we
just keep our head above water? We know what we know,

(48:26):
where we want to be and how we want to
be when we get to that point. And that's what
I'm looking at with this team. You know, when you
get to the final few weeks of the season and
you get to the tournament. Alt's going to be healthy,
Marian Hampton's going to be back, Like all of these
guys are gonna be healthy, and so like that's or

(48:48):
I mean, you never know. In football, it's completely different
than baseball. But the point being, like these dudes are
coming back. You know all of these guys. Alt is
now back, Trey Pipkin's gonna be back. You know, he
played a couple snaps out there. Now you're gonna get
your tackles back. You know you're going to get I
don't know, I can't project what if Makai Beckton's gonna
be healthy or not. I don't know game to game,
but having Amari and Hampton out there like, you know,

(49:10):
Derwin said it's a low ankle. You know, Shannon reported
from down on the sideline that he was just kind
of telling his guys, I'm fine. I'm good, man, I'm good.
So like all that stuff is going to be in line.
You know, hopefully Dane feels better, kind of like the
Mookie thing. Right, he was sick in Japan. He's got
this weird four months if it's just not right and
then bang it happens. I think same thing with Dayan, Right,

(49:31):
he loses all this weight, he's got this weird thing
going on, and he'll be back. And like, I just
feel like, that's what they gotta do. You can you
replicate five and three and everyone's healthy, and we know
what it looked like, man, because it looked like three
and oh against the Chiefs Broncos Raiders at the start
of the season. You know, that's what it looked like.
And I just feel like, can you get to that
point where these guys are healthy enough? Because I feel

(49:54):
good about sending this team healthy out on the field
with anyone in the league.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
For sure, especially how Harber's playing on him.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
Yeah, absolutely, Jalil. I look at the next four games
and the fact that they're AFC opponents. You already four
in one the AFC. Like you could look at the
playoff standings right now and just the bottom half of
the AFC is really really bad right now, Like the
teams that have are already eliminated for playoff contention to
have the Titans, the Steelers, the Jags, and the Raiders.

(50:21):
You're already for one in the AFC. I mean, what
an opportunity for the month of November to you know,
maybe get to potentially eight and one in the conference.
You have tie breakers over everybody if you don't win
the division. So I do look at November. You know,
we always talking about December football and how how it
gets real, but like I mean November for this team

(50:42):
with kind of where they are in the pecking gord
in the AFC, I think it's huge.

Speaker 5 (50:45):
Yeah, it's big because you'll get to December and you'll
look back and be like, man, only if we.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
Could have should have wader in November.

Speaker 5 (50:51):
Right, So, like, just going off the same theme of
this game is important because it's the next one and
they all matter. We obviously know that December is when
you got to be playing your best football and doing
the coaching internship with Harball. He would always talk about
a plane in a runway and just says, hey, we
want to be on the runway right now. We want
to be on the runway, and then we'll slowly start
to slowly start to get our nose in the air,
and then we'll take off at the right time. And

(51:12):
that's exactly what money is talking about, right, taking off
at the right time when guys get back healthy, right
when we get those guys who are very very important
pieces of this team back out on the field, will
be about the right time.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
But you have to keep your head water, you have
to thread water, and you have to.

Speaker 5 (51:26):
Take care of these next four games in this month,
which are very very doable if they go about it
the right way, if they go about it professionally and
they keep their head steadying down and continue to grind.
I think we'll look up at the beginning of the
December like, hey, we had a really good month in November.

Speaker 3 (51:40):
Let's continue to get it cracking.

Speaker 4 (51:42):
Man.

Speaker 1 (51:43):
I think, you know, can you get it to look
like it did against the Vikings against the Titans. You know,
a team that's got one win, and that one win
came thanks to just some wacky stuff happening in that
Arizona game. Otherwise they so thank you Arizona. So it's
not a winless team but for letting them get that
one win. But I think that's you know, number one,

(52:03):
Can you can you dominate a team that has been
dominated regularly this season? Get some guys some rest because
you got Pittsburgh. Man, I know they they lost that
game that Cincinnati and they're four and two now and
they've had some weird games the one they should have
probably lost to the Jets, but it was handed to
them kind of thing. But we know what that defense is, man.
That defense will punch you in the mouth. So I

(52:26):
think if you can get if you can get up
big on telegas. Instead of just kind of looking at
that chunk of of you know, the Tennessee Pittsburgh Jacksonville
by Raiders sort of thing, I kind of look at
it as those those two there, you know, can you
can you get to Tennessee? Can you get out of
there without Jeffrey Simmons wrecking the game on the interior
of that line and getting in Herbert's lap too often

(52:48):
because he can he can put a beating on you
as well. So and can you get a big lead
and try to get some guys, you know, a couple
reps off, a series or two off if you can,
if you can dominate that game like it did on
Thursday night against the Vikings and prep for you know,
a Steelers defense, that's no joke, man, I know that.
I know Joe Flacco, you know, had a heck of

(53:09):
a game and it was fun to watch, for sure.

Speaker 4 (53:12):
But I think.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
It's it's still that's still man her big and Watt
and Highsmith like that thing is nasty.

Speaker 4 (53:22):
Man. They can do some damage.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Was Jamar Chase targeted seventy three times in that game?

Speaker 4 (53:27):
Was it?

Speaker 2 (53:28):
I think it was. I literally generally think it was
twenty three times.

Speaker 4 (53:30):
He was targeted.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
Wild man play the hits, yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 4 (53:35):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
The Chargers not overlook the today. The Charge already lost
to a rookie quarterback on the road this year. Yeah,
it's already happened, right, So that week four is all
you have to do. Put fire that tape up and
get motivated for the Tennessee Titans. Because listen, Kim Ward
number one overall pick, it has not looked good. I
don't know how they won that Cardinals game. But those
are the types of games you have to you have

(53:57):
to take care of and not kind of look at
to Pittsburgh, take keep your eye on the prize in Tennessee.
And like you said, Money, the Steelers, you got those
edge rushers, Aaron Rodgers play really good this year. You
know he's he's having a really good year and have
weapons on the outside you're don't have to account for.
But like where this team is at, you take five

(54:18):
and three, especially with three of those five wins coming
in the division, the other one coming in the AFC,
and to withstand the injuries, Like you look around the
NFL guys, man, like everybody's injured, the Niners, the Ravens,
the command everybody's really really beat up. And the Chargers
are in that conversation, is one of the more beat
up teams in the league. But Money, to your point,

(54:38):
you're gonna slowly start to get these guys back. We've
already started to see it with Khalil and Joe and
Denzel getting a Marion back. In seeing what Kimani has done,
I think Kimani has showed that he can maybe kind
of be the the one a to Marion when he
when he returns, and who knows what Joe Ortiz may
do in the next few weeks with the trade.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Yeah, you know, and I'll just out finished with this, Chris,
because even before Tennessee, you know, let's go Marcus Mariota,
Let's go Cowboys. You know, how about them cowboys. Get
them cowboys to beat up on Patrick Mahomes and the
Chiefs or I'm sorry, on the Broncos. It's Mariota versus
the Chiefs. It's the Commanders, Commander's Chiefs, Cowboys Broncos. Hey, look, man,

(55:22):
that Cowboys offense is no joke. That thing is no joke.
Defense he can, but but offense can put on you.
And I think we saw, you know, if they can
get it going against this Broncos defense, we've seen the
Broncos offense is still kind of searching. So let's let's
go Cowboys, Let's go Commanders, and uh, let's get the

(55:44):
Chargers back on top of that AFC west Man with
a win already in their pocket.

Speaker 3 (55:47):
How about Russell Wilson, He's like, I'm tired of it.
I'm tired of it. I love it.

Speaker 1 (55:57):
You ain't gonna bait me Chris, I know what you know,
you know what you're doing. Get me take a shot
at Sean Payton. I've already done it too many times.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
That's right, let's ridet let.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
There is not there's not a side to pick in
that fight, so I'm not gonna pick a side.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
Keep it neutral.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
Yeah, I hope they both. I hope they both have
stomach issues from eating something back.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
But just a note, working nugget from the week. That's it.
That's it, guys. It's good to win. It's good to
win on a Thursday. Get it out of the way.
Uh five and three on to Tennessee.

Speaker 4 (56:32):
Right.

Speaker 3 (56:32):
I like that, Chris.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
Let's go, let's ride. Let's ride all right for Mondy
and Julie. I'm Chris. This has been charges weekly. We'll
see you next week.